Weber & Schubert: Sonatas Paul Lewis

• Carl Maria von Weber (1786 - 1826): Piano Sonata No. 2 in A-flat major, Op. 39:
• 1 I. Allegro moderato, con spirito ed assai legato 14:11
• 2 II. Andante. Ben tenuto 07:05
• 3 III. Menuetto capriccioso. Presto assai 04:08
• 4 IV. Rondo. Moderato e molto grazioso 07:02
• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828): Piano Sonata in B Major, D. 575, Op. Posth. 147:
• 5 I. Allegro ma non troppo 08:41
• 6 II. Andante 05:46
• 7 III. Scherzo Allegretto 05:14
• 8 IV. Allegro giusto 05:21
• Total Runtime 57:28

Info for Weber & Schubert: Sonatas

Even if both of them were destined to die tragically of illness at a very early age (Weber at 39, Schubert just 31!), the two composers on this disc were healthy enough when they wrote these works, and were even beginning to taste success. Except that it was not to the piano sonata that they owed their fame: not without a twinkle in his eye, Paul Lewis has coupled their works in this genre in order to paint a different and highly elegant portrait of two musical dramatists who were emblematic figures of Austro-German Romanticism.

Paul Lewis, piano

Paul Lewis
is internationally regarded as one of the leading musicians of his generation. His recent cycles of core piano works by Beethoven and Schubert have received unanimous critical and public acclaim worldwide, and consolidated his reputation as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the central European classical repertoire. His numerous awards have included the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist of the Year, two Edison awards, three Gramophone awards, the Diapason D'or de l'Annee, the Preis Der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Premio Internazionale Accademia Musicale Chigiana, and the South Bank Show Classical Music award. In 2009 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Southampton.

He performs regularly as soloist with the world's great orchestras, including the Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony, NHK Symphony, New York Philharmonic, LA Philharmonic, and the Royal Concertgebouw, Tonhalle Zurich, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Philharmonia, and Mahler Chamber Orchestras, in collaboration with such conductors as Sir Colin Davis, Stephane Deneve, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Bernard Haitink, Pablo Heras-Casado, Daniel Harding, Paavo Järvi, Sir Charles Mackerras, Andris Nelsons, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Robin Ticciati. He is also a frequent guest at the world's most prestigious festivals, including Lucerne, Mostly Mozart (New York), Tanglewood, Schubertiade, Salzburg, Edinburgh, La Roque d’Antheron, Rheingau, Klavier Festival Ruhr, and London’s BBC Proms where in 2010 he became the first pianist to perform a complete Beethoven piano concerto cycle in one season.

Paul Lewis’ recital career takes him to venues such as London's Royal Festival Hall, Alice Tully and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Theatre des Champs Elysees in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Berlin Philharmonie and Konzerthaus, Tonhalle Zurich, Palau de Musica Barcelona, Oji Hall in Tokyo, Melbourne’s Recital Centre, and the Sydney Opera House.

His multi-award winning discography for Harmonia Mundi includes the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, concertos, and the Diabelli Variations, Liszt’s B minor Sonata and other late works, and all of Schubert’s major piano works from the last six years of his life, including the 3 song cycles with tenor Mark Padmore. Future recording plans include the Brahms D minor piano concerto with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Harding, and solo works by Mussorgsky and Schumann.

Paul Lewis studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London before going on to study privately with Alfred Brendel. Along with his wife the Norwegian cellist Bjørg Lewis, he is artistic director of Midsummer Music, an annual chamber music festival held in Buckinghamshire, UK

Booklet for Weber & Schubert: Sonatas